With over 100 years of brewing tradition behind it, Molson Export continues to grow in lore. Its history, however, could never be as rich without the original, high-quality ingredients that have come to distinguish it from other brands.

We brew Molson Export with two-row barley, an exclusive strain of ale yeast that goes back to the origins of Molson Breweries, hand-selected Golding and Oregon hops and water.

Beer: Reviews & Ratings

i like this better than either canadian or golden. its very sessionable and less artifical tasting. pours clear yellow color with a excited white head over an inch tall, decent retention. watery look overall, but not bad. smells like pale malts, very light, with on;y some bittering hops in there as to not be offensive. taste is the same, but i reckon a stiffer hopping would make this a damn fine beer, it seems to be lacking to me, and that could really set it off. mouthfeel is good, smooth and drinkable, lighter body but not too light, with bright carbonation. sessionable, especially when ice cold. i dont mind this one in the summer when i am on a budget. (663 characters)

No head wathsoever when pourred into glass (I guess this too pelased Mr and Mrs everybody...). No spice and very little aftertaste. I'm not sure what the other BA's drank cause I don't see anything interesting here. This is the usual macro brewed beer that is very light and designed for those hot summer days... (312 characters)

Burnished gold fading to palest yellow at the margins. The ivory colored head is respectable, despite the fact that it's more Iowa pebbly than Aspen rocky as it deflates. Fat strands and streamers of lace look good as well.

Molson Export may be a pale ale in the sense that it's pale and an ale, but the nose has next to nothing in common with what I think of as an APA. It smells like a standard macro lager as brewed by any of the big North American breweries. Each sniff delivers a simple graininess and no real hop presence.

On the palate... this is a Canadian macro lager all the way. There might be a hint of floral hoppiness, but no more than that. A modest malty sweetness early in the mouthful leads to a lightly crisp, clean finish. The only two positives that I can come up with are that it has a little more flavor than similar offerings from the U.S. and it doesn't seem to be turning nasty as it warms.

Molson Export can either be thought of as a terrible APA or an okay macro lager. It's obvious to me that it's the latter and that's how I've approached it. I doubt that I'd ever pay import prices for it in a bar. Then again, if BMC products were my only alternative, I'd have no problem 'going Canuck'. (1,228 characters)

I grew up with the notion that this was Molson's export-only beer, and thus available in foreign countries, airports, and well, Quebec, not out West. Let's give 'er!

This beer pours a clear pale golden colour, with three fingers of somewhat creamy, foamy white head, which leaves lace all around the glass. It smells of light white grain, and skunky, weedy hops. The taste is soft cereal grain, a bit of corn sweetness, and lightly acrid, weedy hops. The carbonation is average, the body mildly cloying, and it finishes dry, a little skunkiness persisting.

Ok enough for something with its heritage - I had no problem drinking this, unlike its extended family... (664 characters)

Poured a pale/yellow color with medium head that dissapated fast,a light spiciness in the smell.Taste is pretty straight forward with some hop bitterness in there,nothing complex.Not a great beer but Iam not offended to drink a six pack of this either. (252 characters)

The head retention is slightly better than average, and it leaves some nice lace about the glass.

There's a touch of lager yeast sulphur and a very mild fruitiness over its delicate malt. Some non-descript hops are in the mix, but don't stand out on their own.

It tastes, dare I say it, a lot like Budweiser, but with more hops. And the sweetness of the malt is there because there's more malt, not because of fewer hops.

It's medium bodied and gently crisp in the mouth, and it's a little bit more drinkable in comparison with most American macro lagers, as the hops lend it a touch more character. On the other hand, this is a Canadian beer, and there are a lot more Canadian lagers with more hops than this. (787 characters)

Presentation: 11.5 oz brown twist off bottle, no freshness date to be found. 11.5 oz bottle, so for every case you buy that is about one 12 ounce bottle of beer missing.

Appearance: Clear pale dull bronze colour, good lacing off of the two fingered head.

Smell: Faint yet odd fruity alcohol aroma, clean is where it is at.

Taste: Super crisp and smooth off of the moderate body, thin on the malt with a dry dextrin on the palate. Hops are level with the thinness of the malt and add a nearly tasteless bitterness. Finishes clean with a slight ale twang in the back.

Notes: Very easy drinking, no off flavours yet dont expect any flavours to impress either. At $5.89 a six pack there is better and cheaper beer out there. (734 characters)

The beer pours a pale yellow color with a thin white lace head. The aroma is decent. It has a clean and refreshing pale malt scent that a bit weak, but finishes with a fruity, yet dry lager yeast aroma. The taste is average. It has a weak and watery pale malt flavor with little hops present. It goes down easy and finishes a little skunky. The mouthfeel is decent. It is a low bodied beer with a little too much carbonation. This is a good drinking brew for those hot afternoons, but nothing else. It has a weak palate. It's one and done for me. (546 characters)

I found a cheap bar that carried this on draft for $2 during my stay in Montréal. I wasn't expecting much in the first place, but I thought throwing a twonie was worth the risk. I committed a crime by consuming this without any Canadiens hockey on the tube to watch. On to the beer:

The beer is a pale blonde in color, akin to a lager. Good patchy white head on top of it which has good retention. Sweet. Very sweet. Lots of sweet corn in the aroma and taste, and creamy on the palate. Creamed corn? There's a very light fruitiness that adds another flavor to this one-dimensional beer. Despite being labled as a pale ale, bitterness is next to nothing.

When I think Molson Export, I think of two things: Canadiens hockey and creamed corn. It's palatable, but some (such as myself) might find it too sweet and unbalanced. (825 characters)

Export says 'ale' on the label, but looks like a conventional lager in the glass. It is bright golden, filtered to near oblivion, with soda-pop bubbles and an antiseptically white head that falters and leaves little lace.

The bouquet has a slight pungency like that of a cheap cider vinegar and smells, just generally speaking, 'off'. If not for that off-putting pungency I'd say it resembles creamed corn. It certainly has the sweetness. In fact, this thing smell like it has more corn than a Mayan harvest festival. I wouldn't be surprised if there was mention of it in the Popol Vuh.

Perhaps the kindest thing I could say about Export's flavor is that there isn't much of it. The sting of aggressive, artificial carbonation makes more of an impression on the palate than the flavor of corn kernels, which, by the way, is about the only flavor that exists. There's nothing that resembles barley (or hops, for that matter).

The border that divides ales and lagers, although easily defined in technical terms, is far from concrete as far as things like taste and texture go. Some lagers offer a world more of flavors and body than ales. Just as equally, some ales, like Molson Export, contain even less malt and bitterness than even the palest of lagers (which this really drinks like).

Molson makes a number of abhorrent beers and, in full fairness, also have a few passable offerings in their portfolio. Export, in my opinion, doesn't fit neatly into either of those two camps. It's not offensive, but it's far from pleasant. I can't imagine any scenario where I'd recommend anyone buy this beer. It is distasteful at worst, forgettable at best. (1,655 characters)

Molson Export is like most typical North American beers. It pours a golden clear with initial big head that dissapates quickly. The smell and taste are mostly grain. Mouthfeel is lighter in body with good carbonation. Overall it is a decent beer that is drinkable. (264 characters)

Very clear golden colour topped by a creamy white head that settles to a respectable lace after a couple minutes. Fruity-sour aroma with a musty hop smell. There's a fruity twang at the beginning of a sip, followed by light grainy malt. Very light bitterness is present and carries through to the aftertaste. Thin bodied and highly carbonated. (343 characters)

“This here is the real Mol-son. The rest? They are just Mol-daughters.”-Some French guy next to me at bar. (Translated. [By me.])

I’ve heard people say this is the same thing as Molson Canadian only it’s in a different can because those crazy Quebecois demand difference. Those people are stupid since this is an entirely different beer.

This is one of those beers that tastes way better on tap than in the can. I don’t know what causes that because I am not a professional canman. Good front end and the back gets a little sour and syrupy, kinda like your lesser American macros. Very nice front all the way through, though, and the downer back end ain’t that noticeable in the tap version. It’s a real bargain, too, the Bell Center only charges 11 bucks a tall boy! (784 characters)

A pretty classic Canadian style golden ale that is much better on tap than it is out of a can or a bottle. It's a shame that you see this in bottles in the U.S.A. but never on draught! This beer pours a wonderful dark golden colour with a crystal clear clarity. This smells of hops and malts in perfect harmony and tastes like more of the same. This tastes more pilsener-y or lager-y to me than an 'Ale' per say but 'a rose by any other name...' you know.
This has a very crisp and full mouthfeel and a superb drinkability to it. IMO this is the best if not one of the best in the Molson line...putting canadian, ice, and golden to shame...
cheers!,
F.

In the bottle this is very close to its tap incarnation. The brown bottles really help the beer from getting messed up! (778 characters)

Brought a couple bottles back after consuming a few while in Montreal. Standard brown bottle, "Expertly brewed for over 100 years", I got a bottle with the vintage label.Pretty basic beer, golden yellow with a white head. Average retention, thin lace. Light malt and hop smells, but still more aroma than most macro lagers. It tastes as expected, a bit more barley malt and hop bite than Molson Canadian. medium body, crisp carbonation, easily drinkable. A slightly more flavorable macro lager. (496 characters)

A surprising beer, to say the least. After trudging through the other beers in the Molson mix pack, this beer actually has a little character. Clear Medium gold color, with a head that fades fast. Smell actually has a little bit of hops present, although faintly sweet and floral, they are there. Taste is underhhwleming for an APA, but for an APA from molson it is pretty good. Biscuity malt flavors lead into actual hops. AVersus the style, this beer is sub-par. Too bad you can't give points vs. the brewery... (513 characters)

The old standby. Without Molson Export there is no way I would have been able to get my masters done. When I lived in Albany, NY I first discovered this beer while broke and thirsty. While not the best beer in the world by any strech it is however IMO the best beer for one on a budget. Nice golden color but not much head and it quickly disipates. Nice flavor with some actual taste. No mistaking this for water. What really sells this beer for me is drinkability and price. (475 characters)

Its a golden beer with a pretty descent heaed that doesnt last too long. It taste pretty maltya nd has a few more hops tan expected. Overall a good tasting beer but nothing amazing. I personallly enjoy drinking it and could have many of them without feeling stuffed but probably feeling drunk. (293 characters)

I bought some of this "Quaff" beer in the traditional Quebecois offering; long necked quart bottles. First time I tasted this in 20 or so years. It seems easier to drink now for some reason. It has more character than Labatt's "50" ale and much more than Molson "golden" ale ....a neglected brand. In it's hey day in the 70's "ex" was everywhere on tap elbowing out all competition.
Times change an "ex" is a patio beer again.

Pours a light gold color with a white frothy head that doesn't last and disappears no lace...zip (?) Has a funny hopish odor that is distinctly metalic (like wet metal). Starts crisp but builds to a medium bodied malty, sweet body with some hints of sour fruits, finishes with a tart taste punctuated with sweet metallic tastes.

This beer has a character I'm just at a loss to find what it is,....that makes it unique, there really is nothing like it from the mega brewers. It's a Canadian staple. (931 characters)

Decent beer with an identity crisis. Pours darker yellow with a white head. Bright aroma of saaz and crystal malt. It has a bit of a bite like an ale, but is sweet like a lager. Enjoyable, not great, but I can't really say that I've had a APA of this style. (257 characters)

Presentation: It was poured from a brown 11.5oz bottle into a pint glass.

Appearance: It has a pale golden color body with visible carbonation and very good clarity. On top there is a bright white foamy head that makes some nice lacing patterns on the glass. It also has good retention as it slowly fades to thinner covering that hangs on until the last sip.

Smell: The aroma is light overall. It has a sweet grainy character with a touch of corn husk and a hint of alcohol.

Taste/Mouth feel: It has a crisp light cereal grain flavor with very clean or neutral hops that just enough bitterness for balance. Its palate is light to medium bodied with a lively texture and carbonation. The finish is crisp, clean and refreshing.

Notes: This is one of my favorite beers from the big breweries. It's always good on a hot summer day and also makes for a good hockey watching beer. (878 characters)

Pours a translucent golden colour (like the majority of Molson's beers), topped with a creamy one-finger head. Retention is decent; it takes a few minutes to dissipate to a thin half-centimetre cap with some lacing. Tons of bubbles stream to the surface constantly. Looks pretty good, actually. The smell is faint and bland but there is nothing off-putting in it; mostly malted grains with a touch of yeast and fruity esters.

It wouldn't surprise me to find out that there are adjuncts somewhere in Export's recipe, but that is because I tend to expect that level of quality from Molson. In actual fact, Export is quite clean-tasting - light grain malt sweetness leading into a faint twinge of dryness, presumably from some form of hops. There is some corny adjunct character, but it is not a seriously dominant facet of the taste. All of the flavors are well-balanced with each other, and the end result is a surprisingly decent (and ridiculously drinkable) blonde ale. Carbonation level is a little high. The surprisingly long-lasted head gives the beer a bit of a creamy mouthfeel. It's thicker than Canadian but overall still rather light-bodied.

Don't get me wrong - nothing about Export is complex or interesting - but it's unmistakably in the upper echelon of Molson's major labels. This stuff manages to be very drinkable while still tasting like beer, instead of just following the usual macro mantra: minimal taste = highest drinkability.

I was out west for two years and never saw this stuff there. I'll admit to missing Ex a little bit during that time... it was one of the first beers I had after coming back. If I am at a pub that only has the bare minimum of selection, a pint of Export will almost always be the safe choice. As far as mass-produced Canadian beer goes, this is one of the better options - and I say this as someone who is not a fan of most Molson products at all. (1,899 characters)

Wish that this was more readily available in the states. Pours out to a clear bronze color with a touch of red. Not much of a head, medium/low carbonation. Slighly chemical odor, with overtones of hops and ale. Rather dry taste with overtones of malt and hops with a small touch of what I would call sour mash. Slightly sour and creamy aftertaste that is quite dry. Not a bad beer, but not amazing either. Nonetheless, wish it was eaiser to get in the states other than in variety 12 packs. Worth a try. (503 characters)